Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to the management of cable network usage, and in particular to affecting the behavior of a cable network device associated with a subscriber.
The Internet, sometimes referred to as the information superhighway, comprises a vast assortment of interconnected networks. Private network operators increasingly provide access to the Internet to subscribers who pay a fee for use of the provider's equipment and infrastructure. Some of these providers, such as cable network operators, offer additional services over the private network to their subscribers.
Operation of a subscriber network requires not only facilities to establish communications but resources to manage the network. Individual subscribers represent both a business opportunity and, if abusing the network or their service commitments, a threat to the network. Managing subscribers and their use of the various network resources is therefore a way to maximize the financial return from the subscriber base and to protect the network. Examples of subscriber management activities include managing new activations, isolation and cleansing of virus-spreading subscribers, compelling subscribers to upgraded service-related software, isolating and managing a subscriber who is abusing the network or exceeding the service resources available to that subscriber, and offering a subscriber a new tier of service.
It is not unusual for a network operation to impose bandwidth limits, outbound limits on e-mail, and limits on DNS queries for example. Clearly, a subscriber network operator has an interest in minimizing the affects of viruses on its subscribers and preventing the spread of a virus from infected subscribers. Additionally, operators of subscriber networks are motivated to market new or upgraded services to subscribers, preferably on a personalized basis. The problem today is that subscriber management is largely a manual exercise that is both time consuming, resource intensive, and subject to errors in data entry.
Cable systems interact with subscribers on an automated basis during the auto-provisioning process. A dynamic TFTP (DTFTP) server is described in U.S. patent application entitled, “System And Method For Provisioning A Network Device With A Dynamically Generated Boot File Using A Server,” filed Jul. 14, 2003 (Ser. No. 10/619,236; now U.S. Pat. No. 7,293,078). A system and method for updating and synchronizing changes made to provisioning parameters used by a DTFTP server and a CMTS supported by that DTFTP server is described in U.S. patent application entitled, “System And Method For Managing Provisioning Parameters In A Cable Network,” filed on Jul. 14, 2003 (Ser. No. 10/619,262; now U.S. Pat. No. 7,376,718). Both the 10/619,236 application and the 10/619,262 application are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. During the provisioning process, a device that requires provisioning (e.g., a cable modem) is validated as authorized for connection to the cable system (based on the device MAC address) and provided a boot-file that establishes the device level of service, identification codes, and network address. Customer premises equipment, such as a computer or a media terminal adapter, that is connected to the cable modem is also identified and configured. While provisioning can establish usage limits and other operational constraints on a subscriber, once provisioning has been completed there is no convenient way to reconfigure a network device used by a subscriber to affect the behavior of that device without removing the device from the network.
What would be useful is a system and method for affecting the behavior of a network device in a cable network environment to effectuate both marketing and network protection objectives.